[gui-talk] Audio Menus for iPods

Tue May 15 12:34:08 CDT 2007

Yes, but it doesn't support all models, and it is difficult to 
install -- the computer novice probably couldn't do 
it.  Mainstream-based solutions are better in the long run.

Dave

At 11:36 AM 5/15/2007, you wrote:
>Rockbox already does this quite well.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
>To: <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>; <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>;
><nfbcs at nfbnet.org>; <promotion-technology at nfbnet.org>;
><electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>; <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:29 AM
>Subject: [gui-talk] Audio Menus for iPods
>
>
>
> >I thought this was very interesting ...
>
>
>Dave
>
>
>
> >>Technology Review
> >>Tuesday, May 08, 2007
> >
> >>Audio Menus for iPods
> >
> >>By Kate Greene
> >
> >>LINK: Download an MP3 version of this story
> >>http://www.audiodizer.com/technologyreview/infotech/download.aspx?id=18
> >
> >>703 Researchers are testing ways to let people listen to gadget menu
> >>options
> >>instead of looking at them.
> >
> >>Clicking through the menu on your iPod demands a significant
> >amount of
> >>visual attention, which can be a hassle (while jogging) and even
> >dangerous
> >>(while driving). But engineers at the University of Toronto and
> >Microsoft
> >>Research are working on software that could make it possible to
> >navigate
> >>the menus of gadgets that use circular touch pads, like the iPod,
> >without
> >>looking at them--only audio cues would be used.
> >>
> >>The researchers have designed an auditory menu technique--called
> >>earPod--that provides audio feedback when a person drags his or
> >her finger
> >>around the touch pad. Although it's not ready to replace the
> >expansive
> >>menus on real iPods, the results are encouraging, says Patrick
> >Baudisch, a
> >>research scientist at Microsoft Research, in Seattle, who worked
> >on the
> >>project.
> >>
> >>LINK:
> >>http://www.patrickbaudisch.com/
> >>
> >>Within 30 minutes of beginning to use the technology, people can
> >>navigate
> >>two levels of earPod menus faster than traditional visual menus,
> >and just
> >>as accurately.
> >>
> >>"Requiring constant visual attention while using a PC is
> >reasonable,"
> >>says
> >>Baudisch, "but if you're using an iPod on the road, [constant
> >visual
> >>attention] is unreasonable." In addition to giving people back
> >their eyes,
> >>he says, audio menus could help gadgets save battery life by not
> >wasting
> >>energy on a screen, and they could add functions to the
> >screen-free
> >>devices such as the iPod shuffle.
> >>
> >>The idea of using audio menus isn't new. Auditory interfaces can,
> >after
> >>all, be found in touch-tone phone menus and in various assisted
> >>technologies for seeing-impaired users. But historically, handheld
> >
> >>consumer gadgets haven't widely used audio menus. There are a few
> >reasons
> >>for this, says Bruce Walker, professor in the school of psychology
> >and
> >>college of computing at Georgia Institute of Technology.
> >>
> >>LINK:
> >>http://sonify.psych.gatech.edu/~walkerb/
> >>
> >>One reason, he says, is that audio hardware and software have
> >been
> >>resource intensive, requiring significant amounts of computation
> >and
> >>energy. In addition, audio software has been difficult to
> >program.
> >>
> >>But computing power is becoming cheaper, and there is an
> >increasing
> >>need
> >>to find different ways to interact with handheld devices, says
> >Walker.
> >>Within the past 10 years, he says, the ubiquity of mobile devices
> >with
> >>small displays "has made us all visually impaired." Currently
> >there are
> >>only a handful of researchers who are systematically looking at
> >ways to
> >>make better audio interfaces for various devices, but Walker
> >expects the
> >>ranks to grow in the coming years.
> >>
> >>This first earPod prototype has a two-level menu hierarchy with 8
> >items
> >>per category, for a total of 64 items. To test how well people use
> >the
> >>system, the researchers assigned to the first menu level a random
> >
> >>assortment of categories: "clothing," "fish," "instrument,"
> >"color," and
> >>four others. The next level contained eight examples of these
> >items. The
> >>iPod analogy would be found in the opening menu, which includes
> >"music,"
> >>"extras," "settings," and then lower menus that include
> >"playlists,"
> >>"artists," and "albums," for instance. The earPod approach could
> >be
> >>extended to read off a limited number of names of artists and
> >songs as
> >well.
> >>
> >>EarPod was designed specifically for gadgets with circular touch
> >pads,
> >>says Baudisch. The circular touch pad is evenly divided into eight
> >
> >>sectors: it's cut like pieces of a pie, with each menu item
> >associated
> >>with each piece. When a person touches the dial of an
> >earPod-equipped
> >>gadget, the audio menu responds with a prerecorded human voice. If
> >a
> >>person puts his or her finger at 12 o'clock on the touch pad, the
> >voice
> >>might say "Color," indicating that the finger is on the color
> >sector. When
> >>the finger crosses one of these invisible sector lines, the user
> >hears a
> >>clicking sound. As a finger moves, a new menu item is announced.
> >To select
> >>an item and go to the next menu level, the user lifts his or her
> >finger
> >>and hears a "camera-shutter" sound, which indicates that an item
> >has been
> >>chosen.
> >>
> >>Because the touch pad is divided into portions, says Baudisch,
> >people
> >>can
> >>easily learn where menu items are and quickly jump to certain
> >items
> >>without having to scroll through a list, as with an iPod. Another
> >feature
> >>of earPod, he says, is that a user doesn't need to wait until a
> >menu item
> >>is read before moving on to another. When a finger moves to a new
> >sector,
> >>the audio is interrupted and the new item is announced.
> >>
> >>In the earPod usability study, conducted by Shengdong Zhao, a
> >doctoral
> >>student at the University of Toronto, and project lead, the
> >researchers
> >>found that people who had no experience using either an iPod or an
> >
> >>earPod-equipped device used the devices with equal accuracy.
> >EarPod was
> >>92.1 percent accurate, while the visual system was 93.9 percent
> >accurate,
> >>but the difference was not statistically significant. It took
> >people
> >>longer to grow accustomed to earPod, but with experience, users'
> >>performance on the audio menu became faster. After 30 minutes of
> >training
> >>on both devices, subjects could navigate two levels of menu with
> >earPod in
> >>2.1 seconds as opposed to 2.5 seconds with the visual menu.
> >>
> >>Georgia Tech's Walker is impressed with the earPod approach and
> >>results.
> >>"My overall impression is that this is great ... It was
> >inevitable: trying
> >>to look at how to take an interface that is purely visual on the
> >iPod and
> >>turn it into an interface that's purely auditory, because, after
> >all, the
> >>iPod's an auditory device. Why should a person have to pull their
> >player
> >>out while they're jogging to look at it?"
> >>
> >>Currently, however, earPod could not be a complete replacement for
> >an
> >>iPod
> >>menu, Walker notes. One reason is that earPod doesn't lend itself
> >to menu
> >>flexibility. Once a person learns the position of the menu items,
> >he or
> >>she might become frustrated if those positions need to change due
> >to a
> >>software update or added playlist. In particular, the approach
> >would not
> >>work well for menus such as mobile-phone address books, Walker
> >says.
> >>
> >>In addition, adds Baudisch, because the circular track pad is
> >divided
> >>into
> >>sectors, there are a limited number of menu items that a person
> >can
> >>access. If there are 8 sectors, each with 8 menu items, then there
> >are
> >>only 64 total items accessible on the device, and this wouldn't be
> >good
> >>enough for iPods that hold hundreds of playlists and thousands of
> >songs.
> >>However, Baudisch suspects that future prototypes will provide
> >ways to get
> >>around the problem. He and his team are exploring how people
> >respond to
> >>faster audio output (speeding up the recorded voice) and how
> >people use
> >>audio and visual cues simultaneously. Developing an
> >all-encompassing
> >>interface for eyes-free operations on auditory devices is still a
> >future
> >>project, he says.
> >>
> >>
> >>http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18703/
> >>
>
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David Andrews and white cane Harry.